Muses
by Finn Mac Cool
Summary: The Everworlders meet K.A. Applegate


MUSES  
  
Author's Note/ This is a really weird idea that popped into my head. If you want a more traditional Everworld story, read my first EW fic, One Down.  
  
Katherine Applegate just couldn't find the right words. She was halfway through the most recent Animorphs book, and had run out of inspiration. It felt as though her muse had left her. She had typed out the next chapter three times, but each time she had a problem. She couldn't get the character to act like themselves, nor could she get them out of their situation without sounding truly ridiculous.  
  
Sighing, the sci-fi authoress pushed the keyboard away. Maybe she just needed a little break before she could start writing again. She got out of her padded chair and went for the fridge. The instant she opened it, she knew something was wrong. Half of the food was gone. Also, everything was rearranged. Katherine closed the refrigerator door and walked away, trying to puzzle out who had been in her fridge.  
  
It was then that she spotted a beer stain on the stairs leading to the second story. Quickly, Katherine rushed upstairs to, hopefully, find out who was in her house, if they were still there. As she neared the top, she heard muffled voices talking.  
  
"Aren't you a bit too young to be drinking?" asked a female voice that seemed oddly familiar.  
  
"If I didn't do everything I was too young to do, I'd have an enormous stick up my but, like David over here," said a male voice Katherine didn't recognize.  
  
The authoress realized the voices were coming from her bedroom. Katherine burst into it just as an unknown woman was saying, "I'm still not so sure about taking her-"  
  
At that Katherine entered the bedroom. She was not prepared for what she saw. Half her refrigerator was spread out on the floor. Eating from it were ten people. Four of them were clearly in their late teens, while another four could barely be over thirteen. The last two "people" were a hawk and something that Katherine had never seen but imagined many times. It looked like a centaur covered in blue fur. It had four eyes, two of which were on rotating stalks. It didn't have a mouth, and its nose was three vertical slits just below its normal eyes. Most eye catching of all was the thing's tail, which reminded Katherine of a scorpion.  
  
Katherine recognized the creature as an Andalite, a product of her imagination. And she recognized the hawk as a red-tail, and the four younger kids as Jake, Marco, Rachel, and Cassie. All of them were people she made up.  
  
"Oh, Jesus!" exclaimed one of the older kids, a tall black boy.  
  
"Now you ask for Jesus," taunted an older girl with long, red hair.  
  
Katherine barely caught these words before she fainted. When she awoke, she was lying on her bed. Standing over her were the four teenagers she didn't know. The four REAL people. "She's awake," said one dark haired boy.  
  
"Ok, so sorry for the food, we were just real hungry," said the blonde haired kid.  
  
Katherine bolted upright and swung her arm around, and it passed right through the red haired girl.  
  
"Wow," said the red head, "that was weird."  
  
"It doesn't make any rational sense," said the black kid, thoughtfully, "we can touch the food and other stuff, but she passes right through us."  
  
"WTE," said the blonde kid.  
  
"Who are you?" asked Katherine, nervously.  
  
"I'm David," said the dark haired boy, "this is Christopher, April, and Jalil."  
  
"Which explains a whole lot," said the blonde named Christopher.  
  
"Well," said April, trying not to upset her (which was sort of ruined by the fact that Katherine had seen her hand pass through the girl's body), "I guess you could call us muses."  
  
Katherine thought over this, and then whispered to herself, "Andalite."  
  
"Sorry about Ax," said Jalil, "though you, of all people, shouldn't be shocked by him."  
  
Quickly, Katherine hopped out of the bed and looked like she was going to run.  
  
"Don't be afraid," said April, soothingly, "We're not dangerous. Also, I love your books, Ms. Applegate."  
  
Despite the weirdness of the situation, Katherine had to smile at this. "You four are my muses?" she asked.  
  
"Not exactly," said Jalil, speaking without April's comforting tone, but providing his own brand of comfort by sounding perfectly logical, "Jake, Cassie, Rachel, Marco, Tobias, and Ax are your muses. We were just visiting them."  
  
"To tell the truth," said David, "We've been muses for about two weeks now, and the only person we've inspired just peed in the snow. Of course, it was Christopher's idea."  
  
"Yes," said Christopher, "but, if you look at the yellow snow closely, it kind of looks like the Mona Lisa."  
  
"I've gone insane," said Katherine, beating her forehead.  
  
"Nope, hate to break it to you," said Jalil, "but we are one hundred percent real."  
  
"I'm supposed to believe that the characters in my books are actually my muses! And that they were eating my food while talking to other muses!" she said hysterically.  
  
"It's a lot less weird then some of the stuff we've had to deal with," said Christopher, "If you think meeting a muse is weird, try being made into one by the Greek gods as a reward for defeating an alien, god- eating god."  
  
"Most muses aren't made, though," said April, acting as though discussing the origins of supernatural people was ordinary conversation, "they're born out of a weird, mystical light. But we're real people. We're just doing this because we haven't gotten to see the real world in a long time. We'll probably go back to Everworld after a while."  
  
"This is so weird," said Katherine.  
  
"Yeah, but we're used to weirdness," said Christopher, "As a matter of fact, we should be in the Guinness Book of World Records for experiencing the most weirdness."  
  
"I don't know," said David, "those Animorphs went through a lot until the Ellimist made them like us."  
  
"I'm glad they're muses," said April, "otherwise there wouldn't be any Animorph books."  
  
"Wait, the Ellimist made them into muses?" asked Katherine, telling herself that either this was real or she was dreaming, so there was no harm in asking questions.  
  
"Yep," said Christopher, "they're real people. But they had the Ellimist change them so that they could inspire you into revealing the truth about the Yeerks."  
  
"Did he change you, too?" Katherine asked, throwing disbelief out the window for the moment.  
  
"No, the gods of Olympus did," said Jalil.  
  
"Olympus?"  
  
"Well, we should probably explain," said April, "but it's kind of a long story."  
  
"That's it!" David said excitedly, "That's what we can do! The deal is that if we come to the real world as muses, we have to inspire people. Well, why not tell her our story?"  
  
"Have her publish it?" asked April, "You mean she should publish books about Everworld?"  
  
"That's brilliant," said Christopher, "We should call it 'How Christopher the Great Conquered Everworld'. I get fifty percent of the sales."  
  
"Maybe I should explain," said Jalil, "I think everyone who read Christopher's version would commit suicide after the first six pages."  
  
"No, I'll do it," said David.  
  
He turned to Katherine. "Follow me."  
  
He led the authoress back to her computer. He opened a new file. Katherine sat back down at a gesture from David.  
  
"How to begin?" David asked himself, "Well, to begin with, there is a place that shouldn't exist, but does. There are creatures that shouldn't exist, but do. Welcome to a land where all of your dreams and nightmares are very real, and often deadly. Welcome to Everworld." 


End file.
